272 DR. J. MURIE ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CAAING WHALE. 
VII. Tue Nervous Centre. 
I can only offer a disjointed fragment concerning the brain, which in the present 
instance was scooped out piecemeal through the foramen magnum. ‘The portions thus 
rudely extracted comprised almost, if not quite, the entire encephalon; but this was 
softened and decomposed. It weighed altogether 54 lbs. avoirdupois. If the body 
weighed a ton, or thereabouts, as estimated by the railway officials during transport 
of the creature, then the brain would approximately be something like z}5 of the 
weight of the body. 
Portions of the cerebrum, somewhat more intact than others, showed that, as in the 
Porpoise, the brain of the Pilot Whale is highly convoluted, and that likewise there is 
a very considerable superficial thickness and amount of grey matter covering the white 
substance. The tentorium is composed of a strong fibrous texture. 
An accurate and detailed account of the brain of a large Cetacean is a great deside- 
ratum, but one which as yet is not easy to be provided. I look forward, therefore, with 
interest to Professor Turner’s promised contribution in this untrodden field. 
VIII. Firespy Motor AcEents or Bopy anp Liups. 
When I made my dissection, and had the accompanying plates lithographed, illustra- 
tions of the kind (7. e. showing the whole body and in layers) were unknown to me. 
Indeed, in this respect I believe they will still stand ground as original views. The 
literature on Cetacean myology has since received considerable accessions, especially as 
regards limb-flexors and extensors. Several authorities thereon have already been 
quoted in my preliminary note, anted, p. 235, 
1. Muscles acting chiefly on the Pectoral Limb—The superficial layer, that which 
represents the panniculus carnosus of land Mammals, is distributed over nearly the 
whole surface of the body, but leaves the tail free. What corresponds to Cuvier’s 
thoracico-fascien, or may be equivalent to platysma myoides, covers the throat from the 
angle of the mouth back to the pectoralis major. According to the part of the body 
so are the fibres of the entire panniculus differently directed; and they taper posteriorly 
upon the side yertically above the genital outlet. A great expanse seems to act upon 
the pectoral extremity, both superficially and deeply through an axillary portion 
(Cuvier’s dermo-humérien) joining the latissimus dorsi. A semirotating motion, there- 
fore, is imparted to the limbs. The great expanse of this muscle and the accessory 
offshoot to the fore limb present little deviation among the Whale tribe. 
the description runs :—“ A portion of a plexus of absorbent vessels from the head of a Spermaceti-Whale 
(Physeter macrocephalus, Linn.), filled with spermaceti, which was by their action in process of remoyal, This 
most valuable preparation affords a strong argument in favour of the doctrine that the waste and superfluous 
parts are removed by the absorbents, and not by the veins.” On the contrary, consult Professor Wharton 
Jones’s “Caudal Lymphatic of the Eel,” Phil. Trans. 1868, p. 675; where he demonstrates the phenomena 
attending the propulsion of the lymph from the caudal heart into the caudal vein &c. 
